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Monday, July 23, 2012

With the NCAA handing down a severe punishment to Penn State,
some Hurricanes fans, and even more non-Hurricanes fans, are chiming in
with their predictions as to how the NCAA will handle Miami.

To
start with, one cannot begin compare the crimes that occurred at Penn
State to the "alleged" ones that Miami is currently under investigation
for.

In my eyes, the only crime above Penn State's is murder.
Their crime involved a coach who raped and molested young boys. This was
followed by a head football coach and his staff who covered up these
horrific acts for years thereafter.

Does the punishment fit the
crime? A lot of people feel that the NCAA did do the right thing
regarding Penn State. Although Emmert did not refer to his punishment
as the death penalty, Penn State should have pleaded for that. Today,
the NCAA more or less killed the Nittany Lions football program—albeit
at a slow and gradual pace.

On the other had we have the
University of Miami. It is impossible to compare children being
sexually abused to an ex-booster/ponzi schemer who claims that he
provided student athletes with some cash, strip club rendezvous and the
occasional prostitute.

The NCAA had to act swiftly and
accordingly in their Penn State decision. They assumed that the Freeh
report was accurate in it's investigation, and thus, there was no need
for an in-depth NCAA investigation. If there was any case where the
death penalty should potentially be enforced, this would be the one.

If
the NCAA did not act severely towards Penn State, there would have been
an uproar. So their decision was a just one, as much as it was one to
enhance their image as the enforcer.

The reason why the NCAA is taking a considerable amount of time with punishing Miami is because of Shapiro's "allegations." All they have are allegations. Some
old phone records and text messages prove nothing. The NCAA must
investigate Miami thoroughly before handing out a verdict.

In any
event, in no way, shape or form does Miami receive a punishment
equivalent to Penn State's. At most, they may be looking at something
similar to what Ohio State received—that is, a fine; loss of
scholarships, maybe five a year for a few years; perhaps another bowl
ban (Miami already self-imposed one bowl ban); and the forfeiture of a
few 6-6, 5-7 seasons.